The World of Stuff .com

Stay away Fay

Over the summer, I’ve discovered the wonders of BitTorrent by downloading all sorts of things. But pretty soon I’ll go back to living on the campus of a university that is hostile to sharing. Before Wednesday, I’d like to get my upload/download ratio up to 1 on these torrents. They have to go, go, go! (Well, I could still seed them whenever I’m home for the weekend, but who knows when that will be?) They’re all released under Creative Commons licenses, so you can share them without getting into trouble!

• WhiteRoom by WhiteRoom. Nice, kind of quiet music with exotic influences. Ogg Vorbis audio, 96.4 MB, BY-SA.
• Alternative Freedom: a documentary about the growing free culture movement, featuring Richard Stallman, Lawrence Lessig, and others. In English, subtitled in Danish. AVI video, 600.0 MB, BY-NC-SA.
• Originals: 1976 to 1981 by Harbinger, an obscure Canadian band. They started out sounding like the old alternative music that my parents like to listen to, but their later stuff sounds like ELO or something. My favorite track is “Let Yourself Go.” Ogg Vorbis, 99.4 MB, BY-NC-ND.
• Lawrence Lessig Keynote. A lecture given by the creator of Creative Commons in his distinctive style on June 10, 2006. Ogg Theora video, 238.7 MB, BY-NC-SA.
• Your Reality by STEEP. Reviewed previously. Ogg Vorbis, 40.4 MB, BY-SA.
• The Great Pharaos by The Pharaos. Reviewed previously. Ogg Vorbis, 15.3 MB, BY-NC-SA.
• The Puppet String’s Too Tight by Marauders. Power pop/rock from France. It’s in English, though. Ogg Vorbis, 38.7 MB, BY-NC-ND.

I haven’t downloaded any Hollywood films, but that doesn’t mean that they’re all bad. I went to see Tropic Thunder with my friends Nick and TJ on Wednesday night, the day it came out. Without giving too much away, let me just say that it was crazy and full of surprises. Very funny too. Lots of laffs.

Just as I’m leaving South Florida, hurricane season is starting to heat up. I thought I’d be safe from them because they usually don’t hit in June or July. But, as Tropical Storm Fay reminds us, it is neither June nor July. Just look at this forecast cone.

See the point where the storm is most likely to be at 2 P.M. on Wednesday? That’s where I will be at 2 P.M. on Wednesday. Even worse, the storm could strike South(east) Florida and then work its way up to North Central Florida at the same time I do. Yes, this storm might stalk me. But what’s certain is that it will dump a lot of rain all over the place. Whether I will be at “the place” remains to be seen.

The New York Times has an Olympic medal map (Flash) with each country’s size proportional to the number of medals they’ve won at this (and previous) Summer Olympics.

This sounds pretty crazy, but it might just work. It did for someone. With a Bit of Creative Savings, $5 Can Get You at Least $12,000.

In 1992, a ship’s cargo of bath toys was washed overboard. The Friendly Floatees have turned up all over the world since then, giving scientists clues about the workings of ocean currents.